Dear Brothers and Sisters: In the Creed, we profess in faith that the Church is “apostolic”. We can understand this in three ways. First, the Church is apostolic because Jesus founded her upon the Apostles whom he chose and sent forth to continue his work; thus Saint Paul compares the Church to a temple which has the Apostles as its foundation and Christ as its cornerstone (Eph 2:19-20). The Church is also apostolic because she preserves and hands down the fullness of Christ’s teaching and the means of salvation which he instituted. Finally the Church is apostolic because she accomplishes in history the mission which Christ entrusted to the Apostles: making disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them his commands (cf. Mt 28:19-20). May we come to appreciate and love the Church as the place where we encounter the Risen Lord, who sends us forth as his missionaries, inviting all whom we meet to know the truth of the Gospel, the joy of faith and the promise of eternal life proclaimed by the Apostles.

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Confused: How come what you heard and what Scott Hahn heard
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Scott Hahn

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Pope Francis on “The Church is Catholic” (Wed, Oct 9)

“The Church is Catholic because it is the house in which the whole
faith is proclaimed, in which the salvation Christ brought us is offered
to all. The Church makes us encounter God’s mercy which transforms us,
because Jesus Christ is present in it, who gives it the true confession
of faith, the fullness of the sacramental life, the authenticity of the
ordained ministry. Each one of us finds in the Church what is necessary
to believe, to live as Christians, to become holy, to walk in every
place and in every time.

To give an example, it is as the life of a family. In the family, each
one of us is given all that enables us to mature, to live. We cannot
grow on our own, isolating ourselves; we grow in a community, in a
family. We can listen to the Word of God in the Church, certain that it
is the message that the Lord has given us. In the Church we encounter
the Lord in the Sacraments, which are open windows through which we are
given the light of God, streams from which we draw the very life of God.
In the Church we learn to live in communion, in the love that comes
from God.”